Foreign Influence Behind Vancouver Parade Snub, Says China Watcher

A Vancouver-based China commentator says overseas Chinese associations act as vehicles for the Chinese Communist Party.

Several men form a human barrier to prevent the Falun Gong from marching a block behind the 2009 Chinatown parade. The group's application to join the parade has been denied every year since 2003 while other groups have been accepted. The Epoch Times

Direct ties between Vancouver’s Chinese associations and the Chinese regime likely play a role in the continuous rejection of the Falun Gong’s efforts to participate in the Vancouver Chinese New Year Parade, says Qikun Liu.

Liu, a Vancouver-based China commentator, says these organizations act as vehicles for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to conduct United Front work outside China by infiltrating local communities.

The United Front Work Department uses overseas Chinese to infiltrate foreign politics and establish community associations, business groups, and media that promote the interests of the Party around the world.

The organizations plant or transform political and community leaders who act as agents of influence for the regime.

Liu says a common CCP strategy is to use human weaknesses for fame, position, and money in order to control influential Chinese leaders overseas.

“It is no secret that the Party has been applying these skills now and then to lure people,” he says.

The Vancouver Falun Gong community alleges that each year since 2003, their group’s application to participate in the Chinese New Year parade has been rejected.

Mike Jang, president of the Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA), a co-organizer of the parade, has claimed there was no room for new applicants in the parade, and denies any discrimination against the group.